“You, too. Get some sleep and stop worrying.”
When I got into my apartment, I took out my phone and called mom to make sure she was okay. When she didn’t pick up, I glanced at the time. It was just after six in the evening. Remembering that she was supposed to be going to Lucy Rogers’ place for dinner, I forced myself to remain calm.
“She’s fine,” I told myself. “Go to bed early, and in the morning, everything will be okay.”
Hours later, and I hadn’t slept a wink. I laid on my bed, restlessly tossing and turning as sleep evaded me.
I grabbed my phone and called my mom again. I would have expected her to call me back by now, especially if she was stuck indoors by herself.
Once again, she didn’t pick up. The cell phone rang until I reached her voicemail. I tried the house phone a few times for good measure in case she was asleep, but every call went unanswered.
“I’m allowed to be worried now, right?” I asked myself aloud, shivering despite the warmth of my apartment.
I didn’t know what to do. If my mom didn’t pick up, then I wouldn’t know what was going on. I stupidly didn’t have the contact information of her friends in Frazier Falls. I had no way of reaching them to check in on her.
Then I glanced at my phone. I scrolled through my contact list as dread washed over me. I had one person who could check on her—Eli.
Chapter Twenty-One
Eli
There was nothing like working up a sweat. Hard work and muscle fatigue satisfied in a way that office work never could.
Owen might have been inclined to disagree on the latter point, but for me, working with my hands gave me a true feeling of completion.
With the weather having cleared up over the past few weeks, Cooper Construction had finally been able to pick up the delayed February projects. We’d been working around the clock to make up for lost time, and now, in mid-March, we finally had.
The long, exhausting days were exactly what I needed to keep my mind focused on anything other than Emily Flanagan.
Finally, the snow, ice, and gale-force winds had dissipated, which meant I was never trapped inside my house with only thoughts of her for company. I managed to stop thinking about her until the end of the day when I was in bed and waiting for sleep to wash over me.
I’d never thought of my bed as too big … until now. In a short time, I’d grown accustomed to her lying by my side, nestled against my arm or leaning on my back, her soft, slow breaths tickling my skin. It had been a wonderful experience, and I missed it more than I could bear.
My brothers, as well as Carla and Rich, knew that Emily had left quickly, but I hadn’t said a word to any of them about what had transpired. What could I say? At the end of the day, Emily went back to Los Angeles at the first given opportunity, which is what she had always said she would do.
Maybe she’d been right. Maybe I had been reading too much into our relationship. Even if she had developed serious feelings for me, which a desperate part of me was clinging to as true, that didn’t change a damn thing. Emily lived in Los Angeles. Her whole life was there.
And yet, knowing that she wouldn’t choose me, no matter how she felt, absolutely sucked. Not for the first time since she’d left, I wondered whether it would have been such an outlandish idea for me to move to California. People always needed accountants and builders. There was no doubt I could find a job, but that went against everything I’d wanted in life.
Here in Frazier Falls, I was my own boss. I worked with people I cared about, in a town I loved. I couldn’t give that up, even as part of me screamed that I should get on the next flight to Los Angeles and show up on Emily’s doorstep, begging her to give us another shot.
I shook my head, laughing bitterly. All I had to do was give her a second, and she consumed my thoughts.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Pax looking at me strangely.
“You finally losing it, Eli? You sound like a villain coming up with some heinous plot all by himself.”
“That’s a colorful imagination you have there. Get back to work.”
He pointed upwards to the sky. “I don’t like the look of those clouds. The wind’s picking up and the temperature is dropping. I say we pack up for the day.”
“Surprisingly, I agree with you,” Owen said as he wandered over with Pax. “I checked the forecast. Turns out, there’s a storm coming our way.”
Pax looked at me suspiciously. “This wasn’t your doing, was it, Mr. Villain?”
I gave him the finger.
“In any case, it’s best to get the site secured against the storm,” Owen directed. “Want to come to my house for a beer afterward?”
“Sounds great.” Pax was always up for free beer.
I shook my head. “To be honest, these late nights are wearing on me. I think I need to get some sleep. I’ll head home.”
“Eli?”
“You guys go on and have fun,” I pushed. “I’ll join you next time.”
“That’s what you said last Friday,” Pax said.
“And the week before,” Owen added.
“And the—” Pax piped in again.
“Okay, I get it. I get it. Fine, I’ll join you for one, then I’m going home.”
Paxton brightened up immediately. “That’s the spirit.”
Owen watched me with an unreadable expression. He turned to Pax. “Why don’t you stop by Wilkes’ while Eli and I finish up here?”
“Don’t need to tell me twice. I’m out of here,” Pax said, giving Owen a mocking half-salute before hurrying off before he could change his mind.
Owen and I cleaned up the construction site in uncomfortable silence. Eventually, it grew too much for me, so I turned on him. “Spit it out, Owen.”
He feigned ignorance. “Spit what out?”
“All this silent judgment you’re throwing my way. Say what you want to say.”
“What, that I think you’re being stupid by not trying to make amends with Emily? I’m not thinking that at all.”
“You’re hilarious.”
“Eli,” Owen said, growing serious. “None of us have seen you like this before. You’re barely sleeping. You’re not socializing. Hell, you hardly speak a word to anybody. We’re considering calling you Paxton. It’s so unlike you. Of course, we’re all worried.”
“What, and you’re so perfect?” I said, glaring at him. “I do recall a certain somebody having a panic attack on stage instead of apologizing to Carla Stevenson and getting her to help you once more.”
“But that’s exactly my point.” Owen bundled the rest of our tools into the truck before we jumped inside and headed out. “Everything between Carla and me could have been solved if we simply communicated with each other. There was nothing else to it. Now it seems so stupid to think back on it. It seemed so complex and infuriating and impossible at the time, but in reality, it wasn’t like that at all. We loved each other. What more was there to it than that?”
I made a face as a smattering of rain began to hit the windshield. “It’s so easy for you to say.”
Owen frowned. “What do you mean?”